I have something to share about another plant if you have the time to listen! I wanted to share about plant that is abundant on my property and one that I love, respect and listen to.
Please meet Verbascum thapsus, commonly known as Mullein. She reigns like a Queen on my land and is a powerful plant ally. Marcel and I laugh each summer when she suddenly takes over our garden. We say that we live in ‘Mullein City’. She provides a solar verticality in the landscape which adds a visual dimension in the space surrounding our home. Her flowering spikes with their yellow blooms can be over 2m in height. Mullein pops up where she pleases, she is a free and abundant spirit. Some might call her an invasive, noxious weed. Others see her as a powerful healer. She is most welcome chez nous.
Mullein is a solar plant. When she blooms, insects go dizzy with delight and she is extremely generous to a wide variety of pollinators which is great for our garden. Some plants are insect-specific on who they attract but Mullein offers her yellow flowers to pretty much anyone who needs nectar and nurture – be you a bee, moth, butterfly, weevil or ant – Mullein does not discriminate.
Her large broad basal leaves also provide safety for all manner of other beasties and are part of her ability to reduce moisture loss from the dry soil in which she grows. On my land, toads and lizards live at her feet. She is a host to different caterpillars including those of the mullein moth. The female wool carder bee scrapes off Mullein’s soft hairs and takes them away to line her nest.
Here in Provence, the Mistral wind can be so forceful to cause our Scots pine trees to bend and for telegraph poles to fall. Mullein is by far the tallest plant in our garden yet her deep tap root keeps her grounded and her resilience enables her to withstand the strongest storm.
In 2023, Mullein stepped forward directly to help me with a health issue and since then, we have forged a deep connection and she has gone on to teach me some important life lessons that I would love to share in a moment.
But first, confession time: Mullein reminds me of a primary school teacher who took a ‘tough love’ approach with me – When she teaches me lessons, I feel like I am age 8, back at school, crayon in hand and scribbling madly!
Firstly, don’t be fooled by Mullein’s soft velvety leaves – she is no push over. She is a powerful plant teacher with an integrity, structure, symmetry and rigour that you need to accept if you call on her for healing. If you ask her for help, you also need to be prepared to do the work. This is especially true for her renown for healing lung affections, a quality that perhaps she is most known for in herbal medicine.
When the chest is encumbered with infected secretions and oxygenation is poor, thanks in part to her saponins and mucilaginous constituents, Mullein acts like a stiff broom, fluidifying and unsticking stagnant mucus, sweeping the mucosae clean, soothing irritations, fighting infection and creating space to breathe. But she demands that you also participate – you need to cough and expectorate to get the job done as well as take the time and appropriate steps to restore and recover your terrain.
In ancient traditions, her large lung-shaped leaves covered with hairs (akin to respiratory cilia) have been smoked for soothing a range of chest complaints from asthma to acute bronchitis and even ‘consumption’ – research from Ireland indeed shows her activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Today she remains a popular ingredient of herbal tobacco.
My first healing encounter with Mullein had actually nothing to do with lungs! In 2023, I suffered with piriformis syndrome combined with lumbar pain and sciatica related to an old but nasty spinal fracture. I had tried almost everything you could think of for relief but the pain was constant and unrelenting. This experience has since informed my work as a therapist as it gave me personal insight as to the physical, emotional and psychological impact of living with chronic pain.
Mullein stepped up to help with my pain. Did you know that Mullein root bears an uncanny resemblance to the Cauda equina – the group of nerves that emerge from the distal part of the spinal cord (L1-L5)? I discovered that Mullein root is indeed used for low back ailments, especially related to structural damage and nerve impingements. So, I combined her root tincture with Curcuma and St John’s wort in equal amounts. The very first dose brought me a relief that I had not experienced in over 6 months of constant pain and now she is part of my personal medicine kit.
Mullein has many gifts. She is such a generous plant. Some gifts are physical and some are vibrational. For example, did you know that her Flower Essence message is ‘Standing tall in the light of conscience’? She brings you the light of conscience, amplifies your inner voice and helps overcome falsity. She helps you to become like the sun, rise above difficult situations, withstand hard times, she emits warmth…She is the wildflower of inner light and authenticity and she is a powerful protector against negative attacks.
In days gone by, Mullein was also called Candlewick or Torch Plant – a reference to her tall flowering spike that when dipped in wax or tallow could be lit and used as a flaming beacon to light your way.
At the end of the season, Mullein’s leaves die back completely but her dry flowering spike remains intact and erect. Even when she has done her main work, what she leaves behind is a rich granary for our wild winter birds who feast on her seeds and who strip off her remaining wool to keep themselves warm.
And her legacy doesn’t stop there – you may also like to know about her seeds – up to 100,000 of them from a single plant! Her seeds are not borne by the wind or dispersed by animals – they fall close to the mother plant. Unlike many seeds, they require light, not darkness in order to germinate – and they have a longevity of up to 100 years. This is why you may have noticed Mullein ‘appearing’ when the ground has been disturbed. In fact, she hasn’t just ‘appeared’…her seeds were always there in the soil sitting biding their time – they just needed to be brought into the light to trigger their growth.
So what has all this got to do with anything? Here are some of the things that Mullein has taught me so far since our journey began in 2023.
- Always stand tall in your authentic self. The light you project outwards to others is a reflection of your core. Personally, my authentic self is rooted in ethics and professionalism and my verticality is resilient thanks to compassion, respect and kindness towards others.
- Softness does not imply weakness. On the contrary. Tough love is part of Mullein’s signature.
- Be generous. Offer your gifts with joy and share across creed, culture, social or political standing. Everyone is welcome. Whether the gifts you offer are taken and treasured or thrown in the trash is no matter. It was the readiness to offer that was important.
- When the wind blows, stay vertical, if your roots are deep, you are protected. The wind will eventually calm and you will simply carry on standing tall in your authentic self as you have done all along.
- Stay solar. Be a beacon of light that helps people to see the true picture. Darkness and negativity have no place. Raise your vibration and always believe the best in people not the worst.
- Listen to your inner voice and let it always illuminate the choices you make.
